Scientists Have Just Discovered Evidence of An Actual Body of Water on Mars

We’ve all wondered if there’s life on other planets, haven’t we? It seems crazy to think that Earth could be the only planet with living creatures on it, yet it’s also crazy to think there could be life on other planets!

Scientists are constantly studying the complexity that is space—and recently, they discovered something insane. In a study published in the journal Science, researchers have found evidence of an actual body of water on the planet Mars.

The researchers believe that the body of water is a lake. It’s located right under Mars’ polar ice cap, and has been said to be about 12 miles across.

While there has been previous research done that showed potential intermittent water present on Mars, this is the first time that a persistent body of water has been indicated on the planet. Since then, most the water turned to ice due to Mars’ thin atmosphere.

To find the body of water, researchers used a MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding), a low-frequency radar instrument used on the European Space Agency, Mars Express mission.

The MARSIS works by sending out a signal onto the surface and subsurface of the planet, and then examines and analyzes the signals that come back.

While scientists have determined that life on Mars is probably unlikely due to its cold temperatures, they’ve been studying the subsurface, which is a completely a different story.

“We have long since known that the surface of Mars is inhospitable to life as we know it, so the search for life on Mars is now in the subsurface,” said Dr. Manish Patel of the Open University. “This is where we get sufficient protection from harmful radiation, and the pressure and temperature rise to more favorable levels. Most importantly, this allows liquid water, essential for life.”

While the tool couldn’t determine the thickness of the water, the research team estimate it’s a minimum of one meter.

“It’s probably not a very large lake,” said Professor Roberto Orosei from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, and leader of the study. “This really qualifies this as a body of water. A lake, not some kind of meltwater filling some space between rock and ice, as happens in certain glaciers on Earth.”

So what does this all mean? Are there actually Martians on Mars? Unfortunately, this isn’t quite the big breakthrough to determine that fact that we were all hoping for.

“We are not closer to actually detecting life,” said Dr. Patel.

However, the study does help the researchers figure out exactly where to look on Mars now. “It is like a treasure map—except in this case, there will be lots of ‘X’s marking the spots,” said Dr. Patel.

Okay, so we haven’t made any bigger steps towards determining any living creatures on Mars, but now at least we know the subsurface is a feasible, possibly livable spot to look into.

Next steps for the scientists will be to complete further research on the lake’s characteristics, complete measurements on other parts of the subsurface, and to rule out any other explanation for the body of water.

“Getting there and acquiring the final evidence that this is indeed a lake will not be an easy task,” said Professor Orosei. “It will require flying a robot there which is capable of drilling through 1.5km of ice. This will certainly require some technological developments that at the moment are not available.”

We’re kind of glad we’re writers and not scientists. Man that sounds like a lot of work—but how cool is this news? What do you think of this study? Do you think there could be life on Mars or other planets?